Bill's Aviation Log

Natchez was established by French colonists in 1716. After the French lost the French and Indian War (Seven Years' War), they ceded Natchez and near territory to Great Britain in the Treaty of Paris of 1763.

The British Crown bestowed land grants in this territory to officers who had served with distinction in the war. These officers came mostly from the colonies of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. They established plantations and brought their upper class style of living to the area.

Beginning 1779, the area was under Spanish colonial rule. After defeat in the American Revolutionary War, Great Britain ceded the territory to the United States under the terms of the Treaty of Paris (1783). Spain was not a party to the treaty, and it was their forces who had taken Natchez from British troops. Although Spain had been allied with the American colonists, they were more interested in advancing their power at the expense of Britain. Once the war was over, they were not inclined to give up that which they had acquired by force.

In 1797 Major Andrew Ellicott of the United States marched to the highest ridge in the young town of Natchez, set up camp, and raised the first American Flag claiming Natchez and all former Spanish lands east of the Mississippi above the 31st parallel for the United States. After the United States acquired this area from the Spanish, the city served as the capital of the Mississippi Territory and then of the state of Mississippi. It predates Jackson by more than a century; the latter replaced Natchez as the capital in 1822, as it was more centrally located in the developing state.

In the middle of the nineteenth century, the city attracted wealthy Southern planters as residents, who built mansions to fit their ambitions. Their plantations were vast tracts of land in the surrounding lowlands along the river fronts of Mississippi and Louisiana, where they grew large commodity crops of cotton and sugarcane using slave labor. Natchez became the principal port from which these crops were exported, both upriver to Northern cities and downriver to New Orleans, where much of the cargo was exported to Europe. Many of the mansions built by planters before 1860 survive and form a major part of the city's architecture and identity. Agriculture remained the primary economic base for the region until well into the twentieth century.

During the American Civil War Natchez was surrendered by Confederate forces without a fight in September 1862.

March 23, 2021 - Natchez, Mississippi
Soon after we left the Chalmette battlefield, it started to rain. Heavily. Our plan was to drive the river road (along the Mississippi west of New Orleans) and check out some of the big plantations like Oak Alley. We did drive some of the river road, and do a drive by of Oak Alley, but there was no point in visiting during the rain. So we headed north to Natchez, Mississippi. Somewhere along the way it stopped raining. By the time we got to Natchez, it had turned into a nice day. Natchez proper, sitting on a bluff on the east riverbank of the Mississippi River, was once one of the wealthiest and most beautiful towns in the South. "Natchez's prime location -- 270 miles upriver from New Orleans, and at the terminus of the overland Natchez Trace -- made it a major crossroads of the cotton and slave trades. The town also lay close to the richest plantation lands in the South, stretching along both sides of the Mississippi. This made it an ideal second residence for planters who sought the comforts and culture of town life -- and the chance to show off their extraordinary wealth. By the 1850s, Natchez was reputed to have more millionaires than any place in the nation, and it was certainly among the most ostentatious." -- Tony Horwitz: Spying on the South. Behind Lynnette, the river stretches off to the north.

Looking west across the big river. Natchez was established by French colonists in 1716. After the French lost the French and Indian War (Seven Years' War), they ceded Natchez and near territory to Great Britain in the Treaty of Paris of 1763. The British Crown bestowed land grants in this territory to officers who had served with distinction in the war. These officers came mostly from the colonies of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. They established plantations and brought their upper class style of living to the area. Beginning 1779, the area was under Spanish colonial rule. After defeat in the American Revolutionary War, Great Britain ceded the territory to the United States under the terms of the Treaty of Paris (1783). Spain was not a party to the treaty, and it was their forces who had taken Natchez from British troops. Although Spain had been allied with the American colonists, they were more interested in advancing their power at the expense of Britain. Once the war was over, they were not inclined to give up that which they had acquired by force. In 1797 Major Andrew Ellicott of the United States marched to the highest ridge in the young town of Natchez, set up camp, and raised the first American Flag claiming Natchez and all former Spanish lands east of the Mississippi above the 31st parallel for the United States. After the United States acquired this area from the Spanish, the city served as the capital of the Mississippi Territory and then of the state of Mississippi. It predates Jackson by more than a century; the latter replaced Natchez as the capital in 1822, as it was more centrally located in the developing state. In the middle of the nineteenth century, the city attracted wealthy Southern planters as residents, who built mansions to fit their ambitions. Their plantations were vast tracts of land in the surrounding lowlands along the river fronts of Mississippi and Louisiana, where they grew large commodity crops of cotton and sugarcane using slave labor. Natchez became the principal port from which these crops were exported, both upriver to Northern cities and downriver to New Orleans, where much of the cargo was exported to Europe. Many of the mansions built by planters before 1860 survive and form a major part of the city's architecture and identity. Agriculture remained the primary economic base for the region until well into the twentieth century. During the American Civil War Natchez was surrendered by Confederate forces without a fight in September 1862.

Now looking south. The bluff top is now a small public park. In the distance, a steamboat makes a landing on the riverfront. "Steamboats had been as critical to the rise of the Cotton Kingdom as Eli Whitney's invention of a gin that separated seed and fiber. In the first decades of the 19th century, goods traveled the Mississippi on simple flatboats that were broken up at the end of downriver trips, their crews returning on foot or hose [via the Natchez Trace]. It was steamboats that made possible the swift and distant transport of immense amounts of freight, including 500 pound bales of cotton." -- Tony Horwitz

An old Natchez home. There are many places to see in and around Natchez -- Magnolia Hall, Longwood Mansion, Frogmore Plantation just to name a few -- but a visit to these will have to wait for another day.

I was surprised to learn that the Spanish ruled Natchez from 1779 to 1798.

What's that big building below the cliffs? It's a casino, of course.

We stayed in this very nice Bed & Breakfast in downtown Natchez.

Lynnette relaxing on the B&B's porch.

The next morning, we checked out the Natchez visitor's center which had this interesting sculpture of an episode in the famous "Sandbar Fight" of 1827. Jim Bowie is fallen to the ground on the right, shot, hit in the head with the pistol, and stabbed in the chest. Yet, as Major Norris Wright approaches to finish him off, Bowie will manage to pull Wright down on his "big knife" and kill him. Things were pretty brutal and tough back in those days! Bowie survived the Sandbar Fight but died fighting for Texas independence at the Battle of the Alamo in 1836.


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March 23, 2021 - Natchez, Mississippi